The Parker Quartet plays at Irvine Barclay Theatre. The performance was sponsored by the Philharmonic Society. The quartet played music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Daniel Chong, from left, David McCarroll, Jessica Bodner and Kee-Hyun Kim bow Saturday night at the Irvine Barclay Theatre where they played Arvo Pärt's "Fratres" for String Quartet. ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The string quartet has an odd reputation in America. It has become a symbol of elitism and upper crust mindlessness. In movies, well dressed, impeccably accented villains are always listening to them, even as they hatch their evil deeds. On television, stuffed shirts in the back of Rolls Royces listen to them and request dollops of fancy mustard from each other. Or else they are shown as the necessary decoration for country club garden parties and receptions, the musical equivalent of expensive silverware and empty talk. Tell your friends that you're planning to attend a string quartet concert and they'll think you've gone over to the snobs.

And yet, the string quartet is among the most easily accessible mediums. Its players stand on equal footing with one another, no conductor dictating demands. From Haydn to Elliott Carter, composers of string quartets have emphasized this equality, developing the form as a conversational genre in which every player has his or her say, even the lowly viola. The string quartet is democratic. True, the conversations in string quartets tend to be of an elevated sort (i.e. like few we hear today), but they are nonetheless intimate, direct, logical and understandable.

The young Parker Quartet, which opened the season for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County on Saturday, certainly put its program across. The Grammy-winning ensemble made a potentially thorny agenda of quartets by Arvo Pärt, Benjamin Britten and Beethoven an immediate and intense affair.

The group, founded by graduates of the New England Conservatory of Music in 2002, plays in the modern manner. Its sound is lean, mean and rhythmically propulsive. Vibrato is used sparingly, advisedly, and sonorous luxury is generally avoided. The Parker's repertoire emphasizes the modern as well (its Grammy in 2011 was for a recording of Ligeti's quartets). The group has also experimented with performances in non-traditional venues; it was, for a time, in residence at a bar in Brooklyn.

Saturday's concert at the Irvine Barclay Theatre was a regular sit-down affair, no liquor allowed (inside the hall, at least). But by beginning with the meditative stasis of Part's "Fratres" – it simply floats ethereally, turning, turning slowly – the Parkers seemed to be getting us in the proper mood by other means. It definitely helped concentrate my mind.

Britten's String Quartet No. 2 (1945) requires that concentration. In three intricate and closely argued movements, it is capped by a near-20-minute "Chacony" in tribute to Purcell, a vista of 21 variations on an unusual theme that seems to unwind over a vast, lonely expanse. The Parkers – violinist Daniel Chong, violist Jessica Bodner, cellist Kee-Hyun Kim and violinist David McCarroll sitting in for Karen Kim, who is on sabbatical – gave it a probing, precise and rapt performance.

Beethoven's final string quartet, Op. 135 in F, wrapped up the concert. Though the work, like all of the composer's late quartets, has an interior feel (as if the listener is inside the deaf composer's head), it is also a good deal more playful and joyous than some of the others. Here, I thought the Parker's intensity didn't quite allow the work to bloom as it should. The giddy mood swings of the first movement seemed too tightly knit and serious; the finale's answer to Beethoven's question – "Must it be?" – is really happier and more easygoing than these players made it. At least one listener wanted the group to relax and enjoy themselves a little more.

The perfectly chosen encore – the aria-like Adagio of Mozart's K. 156 quartet, the work of a teen – etched in jewel-like facets, sent us off in a properly warm and comfortable mood.

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